Dr. Seuss: The True Story

Children’s writer, artist, and to some an ingenious poet, Dr. Seuss has become a household name. If you have time to look up any biographical information on him you will find that he died due to an illness shortly after the passing away of his wife, Helen Palmer Geisel. If you believe that this is true then you may as well think Whoville is a real place, and when your kids tell you that a black cat wearing a funny red and white hat, speaking in rhyme, told them to knock over the cabinet of family heirlooms you should believe them. You may even go as far as to call the police as say there is an ugly green man who looks like animated guacamole stealing all of the town’s Christmas presents. If you believe that Dr. Seuss died of some generic illness then the Seuss has once again pulled the wool over your eyes.
Let me paint the scene for you. Dr. Seuss, while you’d never know this from his bizarre writing style, was a big fan of Shakespearean tragedy (another writer you should not get me started with). The date was September 24, 1991 and it was a dreary Tuesday evening in London. Dr. Seuss was going to see the 8 o’clock showing of Macbeth at a small theater named the Embassy (he preferred smaller theaters so that less people would recognize him). The usher, an elderly man who was somewhat used to celebrities coming to the theater for closure escorted Dr. Seuss and his wife (his second wife, Audrey Stone Dimond) to their seats. “Here you are, Mr. Seuss,” the usher said.
“That’s Dr. Seuss,” Dr. Seuss corrected him. The usher blushed, said that he was very sorry, and walked away mumbling to himself.
The play ran smoothly, even though Dr. Seuss had become bored by the end of Act I and had began playing with a Cat in the Hat Pez dispenser which he had purchased, being somewhat known as a man with a big ego. Instead of watching the play he enacted his own Pez version of the dagger soliloquy. “Is this green eggs and ham I see before me… Or green eggs and ham of the mind?”
Then, all of the sudden he heard someone shout “Is there a Dr. in the house!” Apparently one of the members of the audience was suffering a heart attack and was in need of legitimate medical attention. “I’m a doctor!” Dr. Seuss stood up and boasted. Then, before anyone knew what was going on, the usher who had escorted Dr. Seuss and his wife into the theater took out a gun and shot Dr. Seuss three times, ending his life. Apparently, he didn’t find the good doctor’s joke all that funny.
Most sources you find will preach to you some common illness that killed Dr. Seuss, but if you find someone who is versed in the lore of the Embassy Theater in London they’ll tell you the real story of Dr. Seuss, and they’ll probably try and bill it under the whole “Macbeth curse” thing. But, if you want my opinion, Mr. Seuss had it coming.